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No remote power control #5

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opened 2026-08-27 23:22:23 +00:00 by tiagoagueda · 1 comment
tiagoagueda commented 2026-08-27 23:22:23 +00:00
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Every recovery mechanism on this board assumes the SoC is at least running:

mechanism assumes
hardware watchdog kernel alive enough that pings stop and the WDT fires
extlinux known-good u-boot reached
rescue SD someone can insert a card
three network paths Linux booted

When the SoC wedges before any of that — as it did on 2026-08-27 — nothing helps and the board
is offline until a human visits.

A switched outlet exposed in Home Assistant fixes this, and it also unblocks measurement:
the boot-reliability issue cannot be quantified without the ability to power-cycle in a loop.

Done when

  • the board is on a controllable outlet
  • a power-cycle can be triggered without physical access
  • the entity is written down in 36-rescue-sd.md alongside the other recovery paths
Every recovery mechanism on this board assumes the SoC is at least running: | mechanism | assumes | |---|---| | hardware watchdog | kernel alive enough that pings stop and the WDT fires | | extlinux known-good | u-boot reached | | rescue SD | someone can insert a card | | three network paths | Linux booted | When the SoC wedges before any of that — as it did on 2026-08-27 — nothing helps and the board is offline until a human visits. A switched outlet exposed in Home Assistant fixes this, and it also **unblocks measurement**: the boot-reliability issue cannot be quantified without the ability to power-cycle in a loop. **Done when** - [ ] the board is on a controllable outlet - [ ] a power-cycle can be triggered without physical access - [ ] the entity is written down in `36-rescue-sd.md` alongside the other recovery paths
tiagoagueda commented 2026-08-28 20:10:12 +00:00
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Evidence for the priority, 2026-08-28. This cost physical trips to the board twice
in one session:

  • The board wedged (#53 corruption Oopsing ext4 on boot), unreachable on network and serial.
    Recovery required inserting the rescue SD card by hand.
  • Then removing it again, because card-in means the board boots the card.

Both are exactly the "someone has to walk over" case this issue is about. The U-Boot work in
#34-#37 removed several software reasons for a visit - armed watchdog, 60 s boot-retry,
unattended known-good fallback - but none of them help when the SoC itself needs power
cycling, and #53 makes that a recurring event rather than a rarity.

**Evidence for the priority, 2026-08-28.** This cost physical trips to the board twice in one session: - The board wedged (#53 corruption Oopsing ext4 on boot), unreachable on network *and* serial. Recovery required inserting the rescue SD card by hand. - Then removing it again, because card-in means the board boots the card. Both are exactly the "someone has to walk over" case this issue is about. The U-Boot work in #34-#37 removed several *software* reasons for a visit - armed watchdog, 60 s boot-retry, unattended known-good fallback - but none of them help when the SoC itself needs power cycling, and #53 makes that a recurring event rather than a rarity.
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blocked-physical
Needs someone next to the board

  
cleanup
Tidying, leftovers, cosmetics

  
hardware
Bringing up a peripheral

  
infra
Build host, backups, reproducibility

  
kernel
Kernel or device-tree work

  
P1-critical
Do first: irreversible or actively exposed

  
P2-high
Blocks production use

  
P3-normal
Should be done

  
P4-later
Nice to have / large

  
reliability
Stays up, comes back by itself

  
security
Exposure, credentials, hardening

  
upstream
Getting patches into mainline

  
wontfix
Recorded so nobody investigates again

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tiagoagueda/a80#5
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